Residency Interviews: Night Before Gatherings

Many clients ask me about the purpose of dinners that are held the night before interview days. Typically, residency programs do this but some medical schools hold these, too. The goal of these dinners is two fold. First, dinners serve as recruitment tools to attract the best applicants. Second, this provides programs with more "data points" about applicants. After a dinner, I was frequently told about the applicants who were liked and disliked. 

A few rules for these meetings:

1) Be on your best behavior. You are under the microscope.

2) Dress like you are going to a cocktail party. Don't wear jeans. Don't wear a suit. Nice slacks and a shirt or sweater is fine.

3) Don't get too casual. Remember this isn't an interview and you want to be personable yet professional.

4) Don't stay too late and close down the bar. Leave when the crowd leaves and, if there are people lingering or moving on to another venue, don't stay with them. You must be well rested for your interview the next day.


5) Don't say anything that you wouldn't want the program director to hear.


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Medical School Interviews: On Hold Status

"I am so excited. I was put on hold at Prestigious Medical School! I am so happy I wasn't rejected."

Many students can be misled by the meaning and significance of being put "on hold" before receiving an interview. When I reviewed medical school applications, rarely did I vote to reject someone outright. More often, I would click the "hold" box if I didn't feel the student should receive an interview invitation. In my experience, at the majority of medical schools, few applications in "hold" status convert to "interview" status. So, effectively, a pre-interview "hold" is almost like a pre-interview "wait list."

Residency or Medical School Interviews?

Click Here to read an article I wrote about some not so common interview pitfalls.

Do you need help preparing for medical school or residency interviews? Contact us ASAP; I am now booking in to early November.

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Medical School Interviews: Checking Your Status

Unless a medical school gives instructions that applicants should not contact the admissions office directly, it is perfectly acceptable to call schools to check on your application status. For example, consider calling medical schools that are "in the area" of another school where you will be interviewing. You can also explain that you are trying to budget your time so you don't miss too much work or school.

If you are interested in mock interview services, please contact me soon. I am now booking appointments for mid to late October.

See where the MedEdits class of 2011 has interviews!

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US Citizen IMGs and the Match: What do the Numbers Really Mean?

At first glance, data suggests that the chances of matching are less than 50% for US citizen IMGs (47.3% in 2010 to be exact) but is the landscape really that competitive?

Unlike US medical students, international medical students can accept residency positions outside of the match including prematch offers. Many applicants who accept these offers either don't submit rank lists or withdraw from the match. Since it is very difficult to track how many positions are offered to applicants outside the match, the NRMP does not offer that data.

Consider this: Assume, in 2010, all US IMGs who either withdrew from the match (17.5%), or did not submit rank lists (15.4%), actually obtained residency positions that were not tracked by the NRMP. If this hypothesis is true, in total, 80.2% of US citizen IMGs may have actually obtained residency positions.

Thus, the numbers might not be so bleak.

If you are interested in mock interview services, contact us soon. I am booking appointments in to the month of November. 

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Will Debt Destroy Your Marriage?

An intriguing article in the New York Times explores the impact that debt can have on relationships. One couple profiled in this article might interest MedEdits' blog readers; she is a medical student and he is an architect. How early in a relationship would you disclose how much debt you have? Would a partner's debt influence your commitment to him or her? Click Here to read the article.

Early Clinical Exposure in Medical School

The trend in medical education is for students to begin meeting and working with patients as early as possible. A great article in the New York Times today discusses this trend at several medical schools in the country.

Click Here to read the article.